(NEW YORK) — The safety record of the Boeing 777 is nearly perfect, which makes the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 near Vietnam especially mysterious to aircraft experts.

“This is so rare, it is absolutely baffling and it’s baffling that we don’t have any better answers this long after the mishap actually occurred,” ABC News aviation consultant Col. Stephen Ganyard said. “So, lots of questions to be answered, [but] there’s very little direct evidence, very few facts that we can go on.”

Ganyard says the aircraft has a great safety record.

“We’ve seen a recent mishap in San Francisco, the Asiana crash, which involved a triple-seven, but in that case it’s pretty clear that that was due to pilot error,” he said.

An air search and rescue mission in the South China Sea, where the plane likely crashed, was under way over an area of 4,000 square miles.

The team is searching for the plane’s black box, which records flight data and cockpit voices and can be detected through ultrasonic “pingers.”

Even though the plane likely crashed in relatively shallow water, which makes these pingers work more effectively, underwater plane crashes are notoriously difficult to pinpoint.

The last flight to disappear like this was an Air France flight in 2009. It was two years before the black box was found and the cause of the crash — a combination of mechanical error and pilot oversight — determined.

Those causes will also be investigated in this disappearance, Ganyard said, as well as weather issues and even terrorism.

Airline officials lost contact with the plane, which was carrying 239 passengers, two hours into the Kuala Lumpur-to-Beijing flight, at 2:40 a.m. local time (18:40 GMT Friday).

The plane, which was carrying three Americans, went off radar without sending out a distress signal, meaning that whatever happened likely happened quickly.

The outcome is likely tragic, according to ABC News aviation analyst John Nance.

“If you have an airplane that comes out of 35,000 feet in an uncontrolled way or in pieces, the possibility of anybody surviving that kind of fall is very, very remote,” Nance said. “But, again, we don’t want to stomp on any possibilities, because miracles do occur.”

(NEW YORK) — Actor Ray Liotta claims in a lawsuit that he’s never heard of a skincare company that he alleges is using his face in a “before-and-after” advertising photo.

Liotta alleges Nerium International violates his privacy rights under California law and he accuses the firm of false endorsement and unfair competition under federal law. Liotta seeks compensatory and punitive damages and an injunction against Nerium, according to his lawsuit filed in a Los Angeles federal court this week.

“I’ve never even heard of Nerium, let alone used their products,” Liotta said in a statement after filing the lawsuit. “They can deal with these doctored photos in court.”

Liotta, known for his role in the films Goodfellas and Field of Dreams, accuses Nerium of generating “revenue using a product-based pyramid scheme,” his lawsuit states.

He claims Nerium sells its products to “Nerium Partners,” sales agents who recruit new partners “in an ever-growing pyramid,” the lawsuit states.

Nerium, based in Addison, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, states that it does not pay celebrities to endorse its products, according to the lawsuit.

In a statement provided to ABC News, a spokeswoman for the company said, “Nerium was surprised to learn through the media about a lawsuit filed by Mr. Ray Liotta. We take claims against our company seriously and we are committed to investigating this matter promptly.”

Around Oct. 13, 2013, Liotta claims in his complaint that as part of a marketing campaign, Nerium, “by and through its agents, distributed photographs and related materials that identify, name, and/or describe, and purport to show [Liotta] ‘before-and-after’ using Nerium AD skin cream.”

In the before photo, Liotta’s skin is blotchy while in the “after” photos his skin appears to be smoother.

Several exhibits in the court filing are photos of the same “before-and-after” photo shared by individuals on social media site Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.

The actor said he did not authorize the company or any of its agents to use his “name, likeness, image, identity or persona in connection with marketing Nerium’s products or for any purpose whatsoever,” and he was not contacted to obtain permission for the use of his name or image for Nerium, the suit states.

“When someone creates a false endorsement using Ray Liotta’s name or likeness, they can expect legal action,” Liotta’s attorney Gary Hecker in a statement.

(NEW YORK) — The Dalai Lama has joined the growing chorus of people who support gay marriage, the exiled Tibetan religious leader said during his latest visit to the United States.

“If two people — a couple — really feel that way is more practical, more sort of satisfaction, both sides fully agree, then OK,” he said during an online interview with talk show host Larry King, though he added that each country had the right to choose for themselves whether to legalize gay unions.

This seems to be a change for the celibate Dalai Lama, who previously has made remarks more critical of homosexuality, including denouncing anal and oral sex.

An ABC News-Washington Post poll released last week found that a record 59 percent of Americans support gay marriage.

(LOS ANGELES) — A 71-year-old Palm Desert woman was stung by a swarm of bees more than 1,000 times this past week.

According to KABC, ABC’s Los Angeles affiliate, a Verizon employee was called to check on a report of bees around an fiber-optic cable box underground near Lucerne Drive and Merrill Drive. At around 4:30 p.m., the man lifted the cable box, at which point a swarm of about 80,000 killer bees swarmed out and attacked the woman.

Firefighters responded to the scene and reported seeing the woman “covered head-to-toe in bees,” KABC reports. The woman was taken to a Palm Springs hospital and is expected to recover.

Five firefighters were also hospitalized for bee stings. The hive has since been removed from the scene.